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Aston Villa have complained after their match against Spurs was moved - but as fans suffer, the blame is being misplaced.
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Football has rapidly become a sport in which every last molehill must instantly become a mountain – and the excessive anger over the Premier League’s decision to move Aston Villa’s match against Tottenham Hotspur is another fine example. Still, there are a handful of people who have every right to feel rather aggrieved, even if they aren’t the only ones doing the complaining.
To recap: Spurs asked for their match against Villa, originally set to be played on Sunday 18 May, to be brought forward to give them more time to rest up ahead of a possible Europa League final the following Thursday. The Premier League agreed, shifting the game from Sunday to Friday 16 May, and a ruckus was born. It’s also a ruckus which perhaps distracts from the fact that if anyone deserves to have generate some anger and frustration, it’s the clubs themselves...
Why moving Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur makes sense for footballing reasons
According to Aston Villa’s director of footballing operations Damian Vidagany, the decisions represents a “clear prejudice” against the club’s fans – a comment in a social media post which hints at the disproportionate reaction to the decision.
Vidagany described himself as “not happy” with the decision, but from a strictly footballing perspective the cost to his club is minimal, if it even exists. Had the move disadvantaged them compared to their rivals for a place in the Champions League next season, it would have been unreasonable, but it’s tricky to see how that could be the case when Chelsea are also playing that very same Friday.
Villa will, ultimately, play the same number of Premier League matches against the same opponents over the same time frame. Their recovery window between games shifts slightly, but being asked to play Saturday, Friday and then Sunday scarcely seems especially unreasonable. By the standards of an overloaded schedule, it’s an entirely benign sequence of matches.
Vidagany claims in his social media post that the Premier League considered moving the match into midweek rather than to the Friday, and that would have changed the dynamic considerably – but as it didn’t happen, it seems strange to complain about a course of action that was considered but then rejected. The correct call was ultimately made.
Should Manchester United and Spurs both make it through to the Europa League final, then the fixture change will, if anything, make the remainder of the season a little fairer on the whole. TV selections had given United two days more to rest and prepare for a potential Europa League final in Bilbao, after all, which would surely have proven to be an edge given how little the two English sides in the running have left to play for in the league.
It may seem presumptuous, of course, for Spurs or any other team to request a match be rescheduled based on qualifying for a final that they haven’t yet reached. Spurs still have to head to Bodø and keep a two-goal aggregate lead safe. It would, let’s face it, be in character for them to blow it.
But these decisions have to be made in advance, after all. Policing and logistical issues mean that waiting until their place in the final at San Mamés was fully secure would have been too long. There’s potential for a degree of embarrassment, but Spurs’ request wasn’t born of ego but of practicality. Now, should the likely Anglocentric Europa League final come to fruition, the playing field will be truly level. At least, for everyone except for the fans.
Why Villa have no right to complain as fans are once again left to suffer
Vidagany may have detected “clear prejudice” against Aston Villa and its supporters, but that doesn’t mean his radar was working perfectly. It’s become all too standardised for clubs, fans and media alike to assume that any decision they dislike is the consequence of bias, whether it’s from the officials or authorities, and it’s becoming a distinctly tedious part of modern footballing discourse.
There is, of course, no prejudice against Aston Villa, or its supporters. This isn’t personal, and the decision would have been applied evenly had Spurs been up against another team. That doesn’t mean that disagreeing with it is a bad thing, but using the language of conspiracy to frame an unpopular decision only damages the chances of a rational, meaningful conversation taking place.
The comments beneath Vidagany’s social media post make it pretty clear that he stoked the flames successfully. There are always fans prepared to believe that the world is out to get them or that there is an agenda against their team, and it’s not an attitude that helps anyone or achieves much except for placing chips on shoulders where they have no need to be and creating arguments and needless tensions.
Some of Villa’s frustration is a result of the Premier League’s refusal to move a match against Liverpool from February to March earlier this season, during a period in which Villa, competing on several fronts, faced the need to play five matches in 14 days.
At the time, Villa asked for the game to be moved to March, before the international break – but there was no gap in the calendar, as Villa would have found out when the game against Liverpool was moved again due to the two teams’ commitments in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League. Villa had essentially asked for the impossible. Now, Spurs have asked for something which doesn’t contradict the absurdly busy football calendar.
In short, the Premier League saying yes to one and no to the other isn’t evidence of unfair treatment but simply that there were two different questions being asked. The schedule is ridiculous, and made Villa’s progress through the late winter period especially arduous, but they weren’t singled out for punitive treatment – rather, they were victims of their numerous recent successes.
Still, as mentioned earlier, while this decision doesn’t screw over Villa or Spurs, it does screw over fans on both sides. How many non-refundable hotel rooms or advanced rail tickets had been purchased? How many plans made by fans and families who now won’t be able to go as the game falls on a work day?
There’s every argument to be made that the Premier League needs to prioritise the needs (and, in the current climate, expenses) of ordinary football fans over creating a fractionally fairer sporting environment – and the point should be made to Sky Sports, too. After all, it was their decision to imbalance that weekend by putting Manchester United on a Friday and Spurs on a Sunday.
The Premier League should, perhaps, take back some control of TV scheduling in future broadcasting deals to help avoid scenarios like this, or it could put provisions in place to deal with such possible situations sooner rather than later. As it is, fans are being asked to change their plans less than two weeks out.
Changing the date of the game isn’t ridiculous in its own right, but doing so at such late notice is, and some few supporters will be in a bind as a result – from Villa and Spurs alike. It would be nice if the needs of travelling supporters ever came first, but the game seldom puts them first these days.
But if Vidagany and the rest of Villa’s board remain concerned about the unfair treatment of their own fans, perhaps they could start by not raising season ticket prices further after they increased in cost by 91% over the last decade, the most of any team in the Premier League? Maybe Vidagany could ask why Villa doubled the price of disabled parking spaces outside Villa Park last September?
For all his complaints about “prejudice” against Villa fans, it’s their own club that gouge them the hardest, and that most often ride roughshod over their needs in order to earn some extra cash. Not a problem unique to Aston Villa, by any stretch, but it makes their complaints particularly laughable. The conspiracy against fans comes from the clubs they support, not referees or The FA or the media.